THIS IS SERIES 5 WARDROBE CRISIS #SHARETHEPODCASTMIC YOUR GUEST HOST THIS WEEK IS AYESHA BARENBLAT, AND SHE’S IN CONVERSATION WITH BANGLADESHI GARMENT WORKER UNION LEADER, NAZMA AKTER.
ABOUT YOUR HOST: San Francisco-based Ayesha Barenblat is the founder and CEO of ReMake - “a community of millennial and Gen Z women who pledge to wear our values and put an end to fast fashion.”Prior to founding ReMake, she led brand engagement at Better Work, a World Bank and UN partnership to ensure safe and decent working conditions in garment factories around the world. Ayesha grew up in Karachi, Pakistan, around family that ran clothing factories.
EPISODE 136 FEATURES NAZMA AKTER
Nazma Akter, founder and Executive Director of the Awaj Foundation, has been fighting to improve workers’ rights in Bangladesh's garment sector for 30 years - and she started out as a garment worker herself, aged just 11. Nazma is also the President of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation, one of the largest union federations in Bangladesh, and co-chair of Asia Pacific Women’s Committee of IndustriALL Global Union. Hers is a powerful, persuasive, brilliant voice from the workers’ side. So why have't you heard it before? Or if you have, why not more?
The answer is because fashion - yes, even sustainable fashion - operates with a power imbalance that too often shuts workers out. We rarely hear from the people who make our clothes, especially those in low-wage countries. Instead, we hear from brands talking about garment workers, or well meaning white people talking on their behalf. Mostly, we hear from those who make the decisions, rather than those who must live with them. But if we are to build a truly sustainable and ethical fashion industry, we must make space for the people who make our clothes.
Image courtesy of Nazma Akter
NOTES
Listen back to Episode 115 with Ayesha, here.
The AWAJ FOUNDATION is a grassroots labour rights NGO with over 600,000 worker members across Bangladesh. Through our projects, services, research and advocacy, we aim to empower workers and enable harmonious industrial relations. We particularly focus on supporting women workers, because we believe that leadership from women can transform our society towards greater equity and justice. More here.
PAY UP FASHION is a coalition is led by workers and labor rights advocates. “The #PayUp campaign formed in March 2020 out of the fashion industry’s catastrophic decision to refuse payment for completed clothing orders heading into the COVID-19 pandemic. When retail stores were shuttered and fashion sales were in free-fall in March of 2020, dozens of global brands refused to pay for an estimated $40 billion worth of finished goods that garment workers had spent countless hours sewing, according to research by the Worker Rights Consortium and PennState Center for Global Workers’ Rights Director Mark Anner. Millions of garment workers were laid off globally without pay as a direct result of the cancellations, sending them into the gravest economic crisis of our lifetimes without their paychecks or any savings.” Via payupfashion.com
So WHY DOES FASHION CARE SO LITTLE ABOUT GARMENT WORKERS? And why is it left to campaigns like Pay Up to push for justice, that should come from brands? This Forbes op-ed by Brooke Roberts-Islam is a good read. This Guardian story shows just how bad things got during the virus. Here’s what the ILO had to say during the crisis.
WHAT TO DO? Pay Up has 7 demands:
Pay Up! 2. Keep workers safe 3. Transparency 4. Give workers center stage 5. Enforceable contracts. 6. End starvation wages. 7. Pass Laws. READ ABOUT THE DETAIL HERE.
Namza on stage at Copenhagen Fashion Summit, 2020
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Clare & the Wardrobe Crisis team x